2. Student Years
Rev J L Goldby
Following his decision to study for the ministry, Mr Macdonald entered the University of Edinburgh in the winter of 1849, the year of his spiritual release. During his College course, both in Arts and Divinity, he acted as a schoolteacher and missionary in the interval between sessions. After his first university session he taught in a school run by the Ladies’ Society for the Religious Improvement of the Remote Highlands and Islands. They began their good work in 1850 and set up schools in many poor districts. One object of the Society was to help godly young men who were studying for the ministry, and therefore only students were employed as teachers. The first article gave an account of his call by grace under the ministry of Rev Alexander MacIntyre. The main source for this period of his life is Rev D Macfarlane’s Memoir and Remains of Rev Donald Macdonald, Shieldaig.
The Society sent Mr Macdonald to Uiskeva, on the east side of Benbecula, where a good number of children lived, far away from any school. “The coming of a teacher to this remote district,” says Mr Macfarlane, “was hailed by the inhabitants with joy and gratitude. It was a great boon and a wonderful providence. All the children of school age at Uiskeva and the neighbouring townships came to be taught, and even grown-ups were among the pupils. Most of these were never at school before. . . . All the common branches of education taught in other schools were taught in the Ladies’ Schools, and in the case of advanced scholars who wished to prosecute their studies at college, the rudiments of the higher branches were also taught, such as Latin and Greek. But, as the object of the Society was chiefly to communicate religious instruction to the young, the Bible and Shorter Catechism had a prominent place in the schools. While Mr Macdonald was competent to teach all the secular branches required in this school, he was eminently fitted to conduct the religious department, as he was himself taught of the Lord and deeply concerned for the spiritual good of the young.
“He acted as a missionary as well as a schoolmaster. He began to conduct meetings on the Sabbath, morning and evening, and kept a Sabbath school. All the Protestants in the district, old and young, came to hear him, and they soon discovered that the teacher providentially sent them was a true man of God and an ambassador for Christ. He addressed the meeting while sitting, thinking it would be presumptuous of him at that stage to stand. He was then in the heat of his ‘first love’, and was most lively and full of unction in his addresses. It was in this place he composed most of his Gaelic poems, which he used to chant melodiously as he walked over the fields after school hours, competing as it were with the thrush that chirped its song merrily in the bush beside him. Speaking afterwards of his happy time at Uiskeva, he confessed that he never enjoyed more of the Lord than he did there, and that he loved the very ground and stones of the locality where the Lord was so rich in mercy to his soul.”
As time passed, more pupils attended the school; some came from the west side of the island and took lodgings within reach of the school. There were no fees to pay, which was an incentive to parents to send their children to this school, the only one of its kind in Benbecula at that time.
Mr Macfarlane’s description of his friend’s qualities, even before he became a minister, is highly instructive. These qualities helped greatly to draw the people, and they attended his Sabbath services with increasing interest. “It need hardly be said that law and gospel were most faithfully proclaimed to them by a man who had experimental knowledge of both, as few had. His addresses could not fail to arrest attention. The character of the preacher, his genuine piety, his fervent earnestness, and his yearning desire for the salvation of their immortal souls, together with his most heavenly and solemn manner, added weight to his message, and produced a salutary influence on his hearers, which confirmed them in their conviction, the oftener they heard him, that the Lord was speaking to their hearts through His servant.”
Later Mr Macdonald taught in the Ladies’ School at Stoneybridge in South Uist. In the winter of 1856, when he went south to attend college, he employed Mr Macfarlane as his substitute during the session. When he returned, Mr Macfarlane remained with him for the summer and lodged in his house. It was then he began to see what a bright Christian he was: “Though I knew him to some extent at Uiskeva (I was one of his pupils there), yet I was not then in a position to understand what a great privilege we had in having such a teacher. His savoury spiritual exercises, both in the school and in his home, were truly precious. He conscientiously and diligently attended to his duties in the school during school hours; and after the school was dismissed, and dinner over, there was always some time spent in reading a portion of Scripture and in prayer. Every day was like a Sabbath, and yet the Lord’s Day was the queen of the week.
“As he had to officiate on Sabbath, Saturday was devoted to the work of preparation for the duties of that sacred day. So far as I recollect, he did not at that time commit his thoughts to writing; his preparation consisted in prayer and meditation on a passage of Scripture. Sometimes the schoolhouse, which was connected with his dwelling, was his study; other times the open field. He often went to the shore of the Atlantic and walked up and down the beautiful sandy strand meditating on his subject and ejaculating his thoughts in the way of preaching as if a congregation were before him – the roaring waves of the great ocean, which rolled in rapid succession upon the beach, made it impossible for passers-by to hear his voice. On Sabbath he rose early. He made it a rule that we should be up at 6 o’clock, and that rule was punctually adhered to. Until the breakfast hour, 9 o’clock, the time was occupied with private devotions, reading the Scriptures and prayers. After breakfast and worship he walked to Howmore, a few miles distant, to conduct the meeting there. In the evening he held a prayer meeting in his own room, where the few Free Church people in the district gathered.
“I shall never forget the happy time I spent with Mr Macdonald at Stoneybridge. His house might be called a Bethel, the house of God, and he was himself a Jacob who wrestled with the Angel of the Covenant and prevailed. I saw him in different states and moods – sometimes so much cast down with a feeling of desertion that he could not enjoy any earthly comfort, other times so much filled with the Lord’s gracious presence that he had to stretch himself quite prostrate on the bed. He was not at that time left long without comfort. He was an importunate suppliant at his Father’s door.”
While in Edinburgh, Mr Macdonald learned, not only from his university classes, but also from his contacts with eminent Christians such as Rabbi Duncan and Robert Flockhart. Dr Duncan took a fatherly interest in him, and there was mutual friendship between them. Dr Duncan had laboured with wonderful success among the Jewish people of Hungary and he no doubt helped to fashion Mr Macdonald’s own keen, prayerful interest in the Jewish people and their salvation, to which he often referred in his sermons. Dr Duncan conducted a Saturday meeting, at which he expounded a passage of Scripture and spoke faithfully to the students about the work of the ministry. Mr Macdonald, though not then a divinity student, attended these meetings. He enjoyed them immensely and derived much benefit from them. On one occasion Dr Duncan was lecturing on a passage which mentions stealing the Word of the Lord. He paused for some time and then, looking at the young men before him, he warned them with tears in his eyes to take heed that they would not be guilty of stealing the Word of the Lord. He spoke with such solemn gravity and deep earnestness that Mr Macdonald said he could never forget it.
Robert Flockhart was also a most helpful spiritual friend to Mr Macdonald. He had, Mr Macfarlane tells us, “served his time in the army and, having been converted while on service in India, he became a great street preacher. Having faithfully served his Queen and country, he became a good soldier of Jesus Christ. He held his meetings on the streets of Edinburgh. Crowds of people gathered around him; and although he endured much insult and suffering in the performance of his duty – roughs in the crowd sometimes pelting him with bits of stick and stones – he still held his ground, and was very successful in winning souls to the Saviour. Well knowing the profligacy of some soldiers, he lost no opportunity of speaking to their case when any of them appeared among his audience. He held a prayer meeting in his own house, where a number of godly young men gathered. Mr Macdonald attended this meeting and, when Mr Flockhart came to know him, he made him one of his praying men. Mutual Christian friendship ensued, and the more they came to know each other the more the friendship grew.”
Flockhart’s mantle as a man of prayer fell upon Mr Macdonald, who became noted for this grace. It is recorded of Robert Flockhart that he was eminently a man of prayer. He often spoke of the sinfulness of restraining prayer. On one occasion he was overheard in secret prayer telling the Lord of his griefs and fears, his designs and expectations, in regard to his labours: “Lord, dinna forsake Edinburgh! Dinna forsake Edinburgh! Why should our preaching here be so powerless? Consciences are not pricked, hearts are not broken, and souls are not saved. The enemy is come in as a flood. O pluck Thy right hand out of Thy bosom! Lord, dinna forsake Edinburgh!” “You know”, he once said, “we must give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the Word. Prayer is the one half of our work, the first half and the better half too.” Mr Macdonald imbibed this prayerful, wrestling spirit.
Courage was another characteristic of Robert Flockhart which, as we shall see, was also strong in Mr Macdonald. During the Crimean War, Flockhart spent some portion of every day interceding for the soldiers. When he heard of any brave act, his martial spirit was stirred. He would say, “Shouldn’t it be just the same with Christ’s soldiers? They must charge the enemy . . . up and into the heart of them! Three cheers and down with the enemy’s colours! That’s the way to carry the day.”
Mr Macdonald was also noted for his fervent Christian love. The love between him and Mr Macfarlane ascends from the latter’s pen as sweet incense. The love of Christ that transcends denominational boundaries drew Robert Flockhart and Donald Macdonald together in sweet fellowship. When Flockhart spoke with pleasure of the “Church in the army” in India, he added, “How prayerful they were and how warm was their love to each other. “Christian love in this country”, he said, “is like Greenland to theirs.”
“Mr Flockhart”, Mr Macfarlane, goes on, “acted as a nursing father to Mr Macdonald, who often in soul trouble ran to his friend’s house for comfort. Though Mr Macdonald got such clear evidences of his interest in Christ when he experienced the liberty of the gospel at the outset of his Christian course, yet he was often afterwards tempted to doubt the genuineness of his faith. He began to discover, after that time of happy enjoyment, the fountain of iniquity that was in his heart, and he could not reconcile this state of things with his being a new creature in Christ. This occasioned him much perplexity, and he was often thereby brought into bondage. As he knew that Mr Flockhart was an experienced Christian, and that he could frankly disclose his mind to him, he often went to him in his trouble. . . . During this period Mr Macdonald was much exercised on one occasion as to whether he should continue to prosecute his studies with a view to the ministry or not. He wrote Mr Flockhart from North Uist on the subject, and in after years often acknowledged his obligations to this worthy man for the help and encouragement he got from him.” The full text of Robert Flockhart’s wise reply is recorded in the Memoir. The following is an extract:
“Need I say how much I sympathise with you in your present position? I have laid your case before the Lord. I do hope the Lord, in answer to our prayers, has cleared up to you the path of duty. If now I venture to give you any counsel, my prayer is that the Lord would speak to you by me. The dealings of God’s providence are to be observed by His people. They are to be judged by the infallible Word of God, not by our own opinions. We are not to infer from the circumstance of our meeting with trials that we are out of the path of duty. On the contrary, the Christian path is beset with trials. It is through much tribulation that we enter into the kingdom of heaven. The Children of Israel in their journey to Canaan had to cross the Red Sea and had to travel through a waste, howling wilderness. They had enemies on all sides – the Egyptians in their rear, the Canaanites in front, the Amalekites and others on either hand. But it was not the combination of these enemies against them that slew so many of the Israelites; it was their own evil heart of unbelief that provoked Jehovah – who would otherwise have been their shield and deliverer – to give them up to the will of their enemies. Let us take a lesson, and not fall after the same example of unbelief. Let us seek the Lord’s guidance as to the path of duty. When once we have learned that, it remains that we go forward.
“You can make application of this to your own case. If the Lord has put it into your heart to devote yourself to His service, you need not fear but He will support you through every difficulty in the course of preparation for it. His name is Jehovah Jireh, ‘The Lord will provide’. It is only the eye of faith, however, that can see sufficiency in Him. Seek to get a thorough conviction of His infinite all-sufficiency for your every want. Think of this text: ‘My grace is sufficient for thee, for My strength is made perfect in weakness’ (2 Cor 12:9). This will support you when you are overwhelmed with a sense of your own weakness and insufficiency for the work. . . . If your desire to serve the Lord in the gospel springs from love to God and to the souls of men, if it springs from a desire to glorify God in the salvation of lost sinners, I pray God that your desires may be strengthened, and that you may progress in your studies, because I feel assured that the Lord will not send you a warfare on your own charges.”
The more you converse with Christ, the more you partake of heaven. To be with yourself is to be in ill company. To be with the world rubs rust on you. To be with Christ leaves a smell of heaven, and a dye and colour of another world, on you that will never rub off.
We desire to go to paradise through no other way but paradise and a way strewn with roses. Nay, but we must endure hardness, and resolve the way cannot be changed to flatter our softness. It is God [who] has carved it out.
If ye were not Christ’s wheat, appointed to be bread in His house, He would not grind you.
Samuel Rutherford